


Meiosis

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Forgive Me, Incest, Parent/Child Incest, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:15:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27795985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Hermione tries to brush it off. “I know he’s much older than me, mum, but he’s kind and gentle. He’s not like he was when I was in school. He truly loves me.”Her mother’s face grew even paler. “Honey, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 7
Kudos: 63





	Meiosis

**Author's Note:**

> Right. Snape/Hermione incest fic. How did we get here? I honestly do not know, but I've written it.  
> As usual, un-beta'd and un-edited.  
> Bon appetit.

Severus and her father went with the server to their table and Hermione pulled her mother aside. “Mum? What’s wrong?”

“Honey, that’s who you’ve been seeing?” Concern drew deep lines across her mother’s face. Hermione had never seen her mother so worried. 

“I know he’s much older than me, mum, but he’s kind and gentle. He’s not like he was when I was in school. He truly loves me.”

Her mother’s face grew even paler. “Honey, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Hermione glanced over to the table where her father and Severus were talking animatedly about something. Snape saw her and gave her a small smile. She smiled back. 

“Can’t it wait? Let’s have dinner and whatever it is can wait.” She took her mother’s hands and smiled sweetly. If father liked Severus, then it shouldn’t be an issue. He would talk her mum around. 

Her mother grimaced, then wrapped a protective arm across her shoulder and walked with her to the table.

Once they got home, Hermione’s father pulled Severus to the library to discuss something or other, probably pepper him with chemistry questions, and Hermione’s mother pulled her towards the kitchen and put the kettle on. Her face had lost all of its color over the course of the meal. 

Hermione pulled out their normal tea, before her mother shook her head and gestured for her to pull out the good tea. This must be serious then. 

Hermione spooned the tea into the tea pot she’d gotten her mother last Christmas and waited. Surely, the age gap wasn’t that important?

“Hermione, do you remember what I said about Clyde?” 

Her mother poured the hot water from the kettle into the tea pot. 

“He’s not my biological father, but it doesn’t matter. He loves us and that is the most important thing.” 

Hermione didn’t remember a time in her life without him. He loved her more than anything and she loved him right back. People would say they had the best father in the world, but when Clyde looked her in the eye and told her to do what she thought was best during the war, she knew he really was. He would do anything, give up everything, to keep them safe. 

Her mother’s eyes glistened in the dim kitchen light. “Yes. He’s the best thing to happen to me after you. That’s why this is so hard.”

“Hermione, Severus is your father.”

Hermione grabbed two mugs from the cupboard. Her hands shook and she set them down with a clatter. 

“Are you sure?”

“I looked for him for years. I would never forget.” Her mother wiped away a few tears. 

“It’s been 25 years.”

“It has, but I swear, it’s him. He is your father. I can prove it. Has he ever mentioned Lily Evans?”

Her mother shouldn’t know that name. 

Hermione spooned sugar into the two cups and stirred. Two spoons for herself and one for her mother. A splash of milk in each. 

Her mother’s hair, now dyed strawberry blonde, was once a vibrant dark red. Her dark blue-green eyes were now hidden behind glasses. Hermione couldn’t help but wonder how she never noticed how much her mother looked like Lily Potter, could have been her sister. It’s likely because her mother no longer looked like Lily Potter and hadn’t for a long time. 

The timeline. It made sense as well. Lily Evans married James Potter on Christmas Day in 1978. Her mother had met her father at a Christmas party. She’d been born on September 19th, 1979. Hermione didn’t want it to be true. A coincidence. It could be a coincidence. 

A warm hand settled on her shoulder and squeezed. 

“Honey, we can get the test done. Maybe I’m wrong.”

Hermione breathed deeply. That’s right. It wasn’t confirmed yet. She could ignore it. She could forget until she knew it was true. 

She handed her mother a cup and a chilly quiet settled into the kitchen. 

* * *

She couldn’t ignore it. She explained to Severus that she needed to swab him and he had agreed. She didn’t need to explain why and that had been a small blessing. She’s sure he just thought it was some strange muggle thing that you met the family and got a DNA test done while you were at it. 

Her mother dropped them off and they went back to the wizarding world, her world, through Diagon Alley like nothing was wrong. She smiled and helped Severus prepare for the school year, but she couldn’t shake the anxiety of not knowing. 

When he kissed her, she couldn’t shake the thought that maybe this was wrong. Maybe, she was doing something terrible by loving him as much as she did. 

* * *

“There is a one in three billion chance that Clyde is not Hermione’s father,” the geneticist explained. “In other words, there’s no chance. He is her father.” 

Hermione couldn’t cry. 

Her mother was sobbing into a tissue and her father was carefully holding her like she would break.

She didn’t remember much afterwards. The genetic counselor said some more, put the results in her hands, and sent them on their way. Her father drove them home and wrapped him in blankets. At some point, he had given her tea. It had long gone cold. 

She looked around the living room and found that she was alone. Soft sobs came from her parent’s bedroom. 

“Hey, pumpkin. Would you like some hot chocolate?”

Hermione glanced down at the cup in her hand. It was replaced with hot chocolate. She sipped it and felt it warm her up. The sweet marshmallows melted and she felt herself melting too. Big tears rolled down her cheeks. 

Her father wrapped a big arm around her shoulders as she cried. 

Eventually, she stopped. The soft sobs from her parents room had been replaced with light snoring. She sipped her warm hot chocolate and breathed deeply. Her father’s warm scent of cloves and cinnamon filled her nose. 

He squeezed her slightly and she smiled at him through her tears. He really was 

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I didn’t think he would...”

“Pumpkin, it’s ok. I’m not your father, but I am your dad. He’s not the one who dropped you off at school every day and he’s not the one who lost his memories and fucked off to Australia for you. I did and I’ll love you know matter what.”

“Did Mum tell you?” Who he was?

Clyde shook his head. “You mother said he was more important to you than he was to her. It’s up to you, if you want to tell me.”

“I’m scared.”

“Why are you scared?”

Hermione didn’t say more and her father just hugged her tightly.

That night she fell asleep between her dad and her mum like she did when she was five and afraid of the monsters under her bed and when she was twelve and the nightmares of the vines and the three-headed dog wouldn’t go away. This nightmare. This one haunted her waking hours and when she slept, she found a kind of peace. 

* * *

I’m scared he won’t love me anymore.

She hadn’t been able to tell anyone, not even her father during her birthday lunch earlier that day. Her mother looked worried, but she had said she would do her best to accept him if that was what Hermione wanted. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was. 

Still, she couldn’t be happy. 

Harry and Ron were doing their best to make her laugh. Luna and Neville were getting the cake from Kreacher and Ginny had said something about getting “something stronger” before wandering off. 

“Boys, it’s ok. I know you’re not excited that it’s Severus. You don’t have to keep trying.”

She had avoided Severus for the past few weeks. Luck happened to be on her side this time as well. He was so busy with the start of the school year, he hadn’t noticed she was acting strangely. 

“Well, it explains why he’s not excited to meet us...” Ron jerked, almost spilling his drink, and turned guiltily toward Harry. 

Harry took her hands in his and sighed. “Hermione, I don’t agree with it, but I want you to be happy. Are you happy?” 

“I’m very happy.” Hermione choked back tears. She was. She was so happy with him she could die and she wanted to. She would rather die than tell him tomorrow. 

“Then I don’t see why we shouldn’t be trying to make you laugh when you look so sad. It’s gonna be your birthday in five minutes. Let’s enjoy it, yeah?”

Hermione nodded and let her friends serenade her with a raucous rendition of “Happy Birthday”. 

Around two am, she stepped outside to catch her breath. Ginny had found something much, much stronger and almost everyone was wasted. 

The weight dropped on her shoulders almost made her stumble. 

“It’s hot.” He pushed a glass of iced water into her hands. It really was unseasonably hot that night. 

“Thanks.” She took a sip and wondered why all the men in her life thought starting conversations with a beverage when she was sad was a good tactic. It was, but the fact they were all on the same page...

“You know you can tell me what’s wrong, right?” 

A pause. 

“It’s not Ron is it?” 

“It’s not Ron.” Hermione huffed and took a long drink of water. She hadn't thought about what Ron thought of her in over two years, especially in the last year and half she had spent with Severus. “There’s something I want to tell Severus. I just... I don’t know how to tell him. I don’t know if I can.”

“Hermione, you’ll figure it out. You’re the smartest person I know. Merlín knows your brains saved us plenty times during the war.” Harry grinned at her and she couldn’t help but remember their last year at Hogwarts and how little he smiled then. She couldn't imagine how much strength it took for Harry to smile at her now, knowing the man who loved his mother to the point of sacrificing himself for Harry, was now in love with his best friend. She couldn't begin to comprehend how deep her friendship with him was for him to put on a brave face for her.

She bumped shoulders with him and laughed. “You’d be dead without me.”

Harry laughed and Hermione laughed with him. 

“I really would. Now, let’s go back inside.” 

* * *

He had come down to pick her up from the station for dinner and brought flowers. Hermione sniffed the roses, inhaling their sweet scent.

Severus kissed her cheek before taking her hand. “Where do you want to go?”

Hermione squeezed his hand back and marveled at how Hogsmeade had changed, and stayed the same. She hadn't been back for recreational reasons in so long. There was a new café by the joke shop and a clothing store at the end of the street advertising shapewear and athletic clothes, things she was sure came from the muggle world.

“I thought you already picked out a place for dinner,” she teased. Her cheeks were flushed and she smiled easily.

“Our reservation is at six." Severus kissed her cheek again and Hermione felt her face warm to an unsightly shade of red. "So where would you like to go, Miss Granger?”

“I told you not to call me that!” Hermione couldn’t stop herself from laughing as he kissed her nose. “Can we go to Honeydukes? I haven’t been there in a long time.”

Snape smiled at her, warm and gentle. Hermione wanted to bottle that smile and keep it by her heart forever. 

* * *

It had been fine at first. She'd just not told him when she saw him every week or when they called in the evenings. However, the knowledge slowly dragged her down as the shock wore off and she accepted the truth. It had made her withdraw and in the last few weeks, she knew that Severus sensed something was wrong.  
  
"I don't have to tell him." Hermione stared at herself in the mirror. The months of secrecy weighed on her shoulders and they slumped. Deep bags under her eyes betrayed how tired she was. Her whole body seemed to be curling in on itself. Now, her whole body twisted in a pain that wouldn't go away.

"It wouldn't be lying to him. It would just be not telling him something he doesn't know. He's not entitled to know, is he?" 

The Hermione in the mirror stared back. She never said anything because mirrors can't talk, but sometimes Hermione wished they did so someone, anyone, could tell her what to do in this situation. If someone could, she wouldn't be spending Boxing Day staring at herself in the mirror, desperately trying to push down a panic attack.

"I have to be sure." Hermione whispered the words staring at the stick on the counter. "I'll tell him once I'm sure."

The two little bars mocked her.

* * *

"Professor." Hermione stepped back and let Severus in from the cold. She had waited until the last possible moment. He would depart for the start of the term at Hogwarts tomorrow and if she put it off any longer it would be too late.

He took off his mittens and his scarf. His hair was tousled from removing his knit hat before stepping inside. Looking at this soft man, Hermione wondered if she was imagining it all. She couldn't recall him showing any signs of being soft and warm in school. She couldn't remember him smiling.

"Miss Granger," he said with faux gravitas.

He smiled at her now, brilliant and warm and everything she'd ever asked for. He laughed and the sound of it warmed her heart.

She couldn't bring herself to smile. She held the documents carefully. The manila folder in her hands felt like it weighed a million kilos.

"Dear? What's wrong?" Severus tried to put a hand on her shoulder but she brushed it off. Instead, she locked the door and turned to the living room. Two cups of hot tea were already on the table.

"Nothing, Professor." Severus started at that. Hermione never called him that except in a joking way. Now, with her sallow skin and pained expression. 

Doubt flitted across his face and he tugged on Hermione's sweater, trying to pull her into a hug. "Call me by my name, Hermione. Please." 

"Severus?" Hermione tried not to sob at his plea. He might love her now, but would he love her in a minute? In an hour? Would he look at her with the same loving gaze when he realized who she was and what they had done? 

"Yes, love?" He wouldn't call her that ever again. Hermione felt her heart drop out of her chest.

Shakily, she picked up the file from the coffee table and gestured for him to sit. "There's something I want to tell you. You'll want to sit down for it."

"Has the price of tea gone up? We're not going rogue like the Americans?" Severus chuckled awkwardly as he sat down on the love seat facing the fire place. He'd tried to defuse the situation just now, but Hermione couldn't find it in herself to laugh, even if she thought his terribly dorky jokes where funny.

Hermione tried not to notice the confusion when she sat in the arm chair instead of beside him like she always did.

"Please don't joke." A flicker of hurt crossed his face. She didn't want to see the look on his face when she told him. She would just have to close her eyes. If she closed her eyes, she wouldn't have to see the love turn into disgust and she wouldn't have to taste the bitter pain that followed all at once.

"Hermione, love, what is it?"

Hermione inhaled deeply and tried to use her most measured and calm voice.

"Severus... you're my father."

A pause.

"Hermione, that's ridiculous."

Hermione twisted the edge of the folder. Her eyes fixed on the corner of the coffee table. The tremor in her voice refused to go away as she asked, "Do you remember Lily and James' wedding?"

Severus looked up at her. Disbelief. It was an expression Hermione had seen on him many times before, but never like this. Never with such a cold wash of harsh reality.

Hermione held back a sniffle as she pulled out the manila folder and set it on the coffee table between them. "I have the results of the DNA test, Severus." 

Severus picked up the folder. He flipped through it and Hermione realized that it probably meant nothing to him. DNA. Genome. All of it. Still, he looked through the documents searching for a flaw like a starving man searched for food.

"Severus. It's undeniable." 

He turned to the last page and all color drained from his face. Hermione inhaled deeply. It was the result of the test her gynecologist had given her. 

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

"Do?" Severus stared at the final page. Emotions flitted across his face too quickly for her to decipher what he was thinking and she found herself afraid of what she'd seen there. Mortally afraid. 

"Well, we have to do something."

"Do we have to? Do something, that is." Severus couldn't meet her eyes as he searched her face. He looked like a lost boy, had the air of a ship tossed about on the waves with no sense of direction. "Hermione, I don't want to lose you, both of you." 

"I don't want to lose you two too," Hermione whimpered, choking back a sob.

Severus reached out, then pulled back. Unsure. "Who knows about?" 

"My parents." Hermione wiped her tears on her sleeve. "They told me it was my choice and they'll love me no matter what."

"Do they know that..." he trailed off again. His eyes were fixed on the last page of the stack. The word "Positive" was highlighted in fluorescent yellow.

"No." Hermione closed her eyes. Her body tensed and she tried to slow her breathing to something resembling a normal pace, but it came out ragged and shaky.

A warm hand gripped her shoulder and she turned to Severus. He had left the papers on the table and was now kneeling at her feet. He looked scared, scared in a way Hermione had never seen before. She waited for the other shoe to drop, the shoe that had been hanging since her mother told her the truth.

"Hermione, we don't have to do anything. We can stay like this. We can be happy." Severus held back the tears, but his eyes shone with a desperate gleam that reminded Hermione of her own eyes when she'd first found out.

"We can?" She covered her mouth. The words, stained with hysteria, had spilled out before she could hold them back.

"Yes, love." He smiled warmly and Hermione tried to breathe, tried to inhale oxygen again.

When she finally caught her breath, she nodded and steeled herself for the long road ahead.

"Severus?"

"Yes?"

Hermione neatly gathered the papers into the folder. "Get the fire going, please."

"Of course." A small fire lit on the dry kindling.

After ten minutes, a sizable blaze burned merrily in the fireplace not knowing what secrets it would destroy that night.

Hermione tossed the folder into the fire. No one needed to know. No one was going to know.

Severus wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I love you."

"I love you too."

The paper curled and browned before turning into black curls and tendrils. It melted into the ash and the embers that she would sweep away in the morning.

Severus' hand squeezed her shoulder. 

No one had to know.

* * *

"Hermione?" Agatha handed her daughter a cup of tea. She could hear the sounds of a child shrieking with joy from the next room and the low sounds of Severus's laughter. Sometimes, she would hear Clyde's booming laughter as well. 

"Yes?" Hermione accepted the tea with a sunny smile. She smiled a lot these days and Agatha couldn't help but think the reasons for that brilliant smile were in the other room. Agatha found solace in that. Even though things had turned out like this... even though she had failed her daughter, Hermione was happy.

"I love you, dear."

"I love you too, mum."

**Author's Note:**

> So I've remembered how we got here and I would like to blame a facebook group that asked for Snape and Hermione as family (parent and child, siblings, etc.) recommendations and my cursed imagination. I have very complicated feelings about this one. On one hand, I wrote it as a joke to make my friends to win the non-existent title of "cursed queen". On the other hand, this is the first time I've finished writing a fic in years and I don't think I've done it justice. I will probably start writing again after this because I'm just like that.
> 
> I decided from the get- go that this would be an orphan fic, but I will be lurking and checking the comments and bookmarks. Bye for now.


End file.
